McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) User Reviews (175)

Altman Takes on the Wild West

[evanston_dad · 9/10 · 3 April 2007]

Robert Altman puts his unique spin on the Western, and gives us a haunting and mournful film, and one of the best in his canon.

Warren Beatty buries himself underneath a bushy beard and an enormous fur coat to play McCabe, an opportunist who considers himself to have much more business savvy than he actually does. He appears in the ramshackle mining town of Presbyterian Church, somewhere in the wilds of Washington state at the turn of the 20th Century, and builds a whorehouse and saloon. Constance Miller (Julie Christie), also sporting her own mound of unkempt hair, arrives a little later and becomes McCabe's business partner. She knows much more about running a whorehouse at a profit, and it quickly becomes clear that she's the brains behind the operation. These two develop a timid affection for one another that's never overtly expressed, but their relationship doesn't have time to prosper, as a trio of hit men arrive to rub out McCabe after he refuses to sell his holdings to a corporation intent on buying him out.

Not surprisingly, considering the director, "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" is a strange film. There are virtually no scenes given to outright plot exposition or to showy acting. Much of the plot is conveyed through asides, casual glances and subtle nuances. Wilderness life is shown in all its unglamorous detail, and many of the normally familiar actors are unrecognizable behind their bad teeth, greasy hair and dirty faces. The harsh environment is a character itself, and few movies have a more memorable ending, with McCabe engaged in a most unconventional shoot out amid waist-high drifts of snow.

Altman is of course interested in debunking the usual Western myths. There are no heroes to be found here. McCabe is a decent enough guy, but he's a bit of a fool, and when the bad guys come calling, he runs and hides. The American frontier depicted here is not a sacred place waiting for brave and noble men to come and realize their dreams. Instead, it's a brutal and dangerous wasteland, in which only the craftiest can survive. The theme of corporate exploitation that pervades the film still rings resoundingly to a present-day audience.

But for all its harshness, "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" is a beautiful film to look at. Vilmos Zsigmond bathes everything in an ethereal light, and if there are images of icy starkness, there are also reverse images of rich warmth, notably those that take place in the whorehouse itself, which ironically becomes much more of a civilizing agent and cultural epicenter for the small town than the church that figures so prominently in other ways.

One of the best from Altman's golden period as a director, and one of the best films to emerge from any director in the 1970s.

Grade: A

The bluff is his specialty

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 23 April 2020]

McCabe&Mrs.Miller isn't exactly the old west of John Wayne. But it has the look and feel of westerns shot in those early days of silent film. I suspect that the town in this film looked a whole lot like those in the rural northwest at the turn of the last century.

Warren Beatty in one of the title roles as a gambler whose specialty is the bluff arrives in town with the intention of setting up a bordello. But it's not until Julie Christie arrives, a professional madam with a string of girls hat the operation really takes off.

As the business grows so grows the town. Note how director Robert Altman has the look of the town spruce up bit by bit as the film progresses. Makes the town look attractive to speculators and as it does the cracks in Beatty's flawed character show.

A big mining concern wants to buy Beatty and Christie out they're not squeamish about methods. Beatty's persona is deflated and the citizens realize he's all bluff.

Julie Christie got an Oscar nomination for her role as Best Actress as the take life as it comes madam. But it's Beatty you will remember. His character is both outrageous and vulnerable.

The west was really like this.

One of Many Robert Altman's Masterpieces!

[gab-14712 · 9/10 · 18 October 2017]

Coming off the unexpected success of M.A.S.H, director Robert Altman decided to do a complete 180 in choosing his next project. As we all know, his first film was a black comedy with themes of war. His next movie, McCabe & Mrs. Miller strays very far from that field. This film is a combination of a Western and a romance film, but in ways you wouldn't expect. This is not a Western in a sense of cowboys and Indians, but about a man struggling to earn a living in the cold doldrums of the Old West. There are hidden themes about love, but this is not a love story although there is a heightened sense of romanticism in the movie. Altman introduced me to his style in the solid, if unspectacular M.A.S.H, but he comes through with this film in a big way.

I very much enjoyed this film. It's one of those slow-burn dramas, but when the time is right, I do enjoy these kind of films that don't heavily rely on action, but instead upon our characters. Speaking of which, Altman delivers an interesting way of developing characterization. As the movie starts, we see the townsfolk whom plays a major role during the entirety of the film. But, we are not introduced to them in the normal sense. Altman wisely refrains from using any monologue with his characters (outside the two main ones) that tell us who they are, what they are doing, where they come from, etc. We, as the audience, must piece together the puzzle ourselves. It's clear the townspeople knew each other for a long time. Each individual is pivotal in the lives of others. It is a master technique that Altman inhibits not only in this film, but in the majority of his films.

Another noticeable trait of the film is the look of the film. There is something about that snowy landscape that gives off a sense of beauty. The film was beautifully shot by legendary cinematographer, Vilmos Zsigmond (who unfortunately passed away only a few weeks ago). His work lives on in this film very much so. The film is beautiful to see with the snow-filled Canadian wilderness, but at the same time Altman gives an intentional dreary look to the film and his characters. The movie makes wonderful use of white, gray, and black to show how unspectacular life is for our characters. Everyone goes about their day in unspectacular fashion. Other than work, there is nothing much to do in this area.

This film is about a businessman named John McCabe (Warren Beatty) who builds himself a whorehouse in this remote Western town. The town is predominantly male, and women are hard to come by so this is the perfect investment for McCabe. Soon after he builds his whorehouse and tavern, a mistress named Mrs. Miller (Julie Christie) arrives offering herself to become McCabe's business partner in his booming business. She promises to handle the business side of things because she has expertise in that field. Soon after her arrival, several businessmen arrive in town wanting to buy McCabe's business. The stake of the town and even his life depends on the answer of McCabe.

There is a trend I've noticed in American films from the 1970's. They hardly ever rely upon a huge cast of big names, and that rings true in this film. The only big names at the time of this film's release were Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. This came out during an era where names led to a movie's success. Anyhow, they were both phenomenal in the movie. The chemistry shared between the two is excellent, and the aura they possess when it's only just one of them on screen magnifies their performances. McCabe is dim-witted when it comes to business, and I love how Mrs. Miller changes that.

Another interesting item about the film is the music. Unlike films at the time, it doesn't have a score to use. Instead, it uses three haunting Leonard Cohen songs that helps with the story. The soundtrack is another reason why this film works. They are haunting songs, but at the same time they are beautiful songs.

The film has a depressing feel though its duration, and sometimes I found myself searching for happiness in the movie. Right away, I knew what the tone would be as McCabe introduces himself to the town during a game of poker and finds he has a reputation of killing a man. Then there is the scene where this random kid (played by a young Keith Carradine) gets himself killed just because he couldn't stay out of trouble. He knew he was going to be killed and he tried to postpone his murder by adapting a cheerful attitude, but it didn't work. This town features a Presbyterian Church, which plays a prominent role in the plot and in the ending, where there is a cat-and-mouse shootout.

McCabe and Mrs. Miller is an excellent film and one of Altman's masterpieces. I loved how the story took its time to get rolling and I got the feeling I knew these characters as if they're real-life people. That should be the goal of every single movie, no matter the premise. The movie is very beautiful to look at, but I also get a sense of sadness because there is no happiness to be found in the movie. There is a lot of dreariness, but it's important for the kind of story being told. I had a heavy heart at times, but I still liked this movie very, very much.

My Grade: A-

The stranger, the winter lady & the sisters of mercy

[Benedict_Cumberbatch · 9 September 2008]

Leonard Cohen's songs don't seem an ordinary choice for a western, but Robert Altman was no ordinary director, and his "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" was definitely not your traditional western. This film can be called a western because of its settings, but if anything, this is a "revisionist western" (à la Clint Eastwood's more recent "Unforgiven", a film that also subverted all the clichés and morales of this traditionally macho genre). And, more than anything, it's a love story.

John McCabe (Warren Beatty), charismatic but no so smart, sets up a whorehouse in the Old West. Constance Miller (Julie Christie), beautiful, strong and determined, soon arrives in town and offers to run the "business" and share the profits with McCabe. They start a tempestuous relationship while business thrives... but when a major corporation tries to buy McCabe & Mrs. Miller's enterprise, McCabe refuses to sell it. It's the beginning of his, her and the town's doom.

Even when exploring such a visual genre as the western (and visually the film is also very compelling, with great use of real snow and a beautifully shot "duel" on a bridge), Altman uses one of his most notorious trademarks: the overlapping dialogue, commonly used in ensembles but also wisely used in a more intimate, character-driven story like this. It works very well, although the 1 on 1 dialogues are deeply insightful themselves (the scene when Christie teaches a very young widow, played by Shelley Duvall, how she is supposed to behave in her new job, is brief, human, and dry). Beatty gives one of his most subtle, captivating performances, and Christie empowers Mrs. Miller with flesh and blood - she was definitely one of the most beautiful and intriguing actresses of her time, alongside Faye Dunaway and Jane Fonda, who set up a standard for beautiful, strong women who were much more than sheer eye candy. McCabe and Mrs. Miller's relationship is so fascinating that even the bang bang fans will be drawn into it and root for them to end together.

So, next time someone says Clint Eastwood reinvented the western with his masterpiece "Unforgiven", remember: 21 years before, Altman had experimented and succeeded on that with his "McCabe & Mrs. Miller". Because love stories are more than kisses and happy endings, and westerns go beyond blood and testosterone.

Haunting, wintry Western

[marissas75 · 10/10 · 20 April 2006]

The first thing to know about Robert Altman's revisionist Western "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" is that it takes place in Washington state. Typical Westerns are set in arid semi-deserts, full of blazing skies, blazing shotguns, and blazing tempers. Here, the dank, chilly Pacific Northwest permits, or rather demands, a different range of emotions: poignancy, regret, wintry melancholy. This film takes many risks, using Leonard Cohen's haunting ballads on the soundtrack and shooting scenes in very low light, but remarkably, everything coheres.

The film features Altman's trademark group scenes with overlapping dialogue, but not his typical interlocking plot lines. True to its title, the story centers on gambler and brothel owner John McCabe (Warren Beatty) and his shrewd business partner, Mrs. Constance Miller (Julie Christie). Still, supporting characters always hover at the edges, taking part in vignettes that underline the movie's themes and occasionally provide some humor. In this way, the movie avoids the chaos and confusion of some Altman films, while always remaining aware that the main characters are part of a larger community. It's a perfect balance: both clear and complex.

Still, "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" is more a study of place and character than a narrative drama. The small, isolated settlement of Presbyterian Church is newly built, but already seems to molder. Ironically, McCabe's brothel is the most "civilized" place in town: it is built quickly and even gets painted, while the church remains half-finished. No families, parents or children live in this bleak town, just a bunch of weary miners and whores who delude and distract themselves. They all have dreams, but barely know how to achieve them; for this reason, they're sympathetic and all too human. McCabe is a true anti-hero, a guy who thinks he's a slick, wisecracking gambler, but his jokes fall flat and he lacks common sense. Mrs. Miller seems confident and shameless, but she secretly uses opium to dispel the pain of living.

At times, the movie is well aware of how it subverts the clichés of the Western genre to reflect what would really have happened out West. For instance, there is a final shootout, but it arises because of a quarrel over business—there are no Indians, no outlaws, and no sheriffs here! But "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" is much more than just a clever exercise in revisionism; it's never overtly satirical or mean-spirited. It keenly observes its world and then comments on it, overlaying everything with a delicate sense of poignancy and loss. This is the kind of film that stays with you, but not because of sharp dialogue, beautiful images, or showy performances. Greater than the sum of its parts, "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" is memorable for the pervasive but understated mood that runs through every frame, creating a truly atmospheric and humanistic film.

The most 'modern' of westerns

[MOscarbradley · 10/10 · 13 February 2007]

Few westerns have succeeded so strangely yet so completely in evoking a sense of place and time than Robert Altman's "McCabe and Mrs Miller". In fact, it's not really a western at all; certainly not like any western I've ever seen. It's setting is the Pacific Northwest; cold, rainswept and often covered in snow. There are gunslingers but they are more like the professional hit men of gangster movies. When Altman isn't filming through the haze of a rain-drenched exterior he is filming through the haze of a dimly lit interior where darkness is more prevalent than light. Above all, it doesn't have a conventional western hero. McCabe is like a tragi-comic Everyman out of his depth and his territory in this largely alien environment yet canny enough to apply his savvy into transforming the landscape into something tangible, real and materialistically American.

In this respect it is a very modern film in spite of its setting. The fact that Altman doesn't care very much about convention or even about narrative, (it's story is perfunctory; Altman is more interested in 'observing'), makes it so. But then "MASH" wasn't a conventional war movie either just as "Nashville" wasn't really about the country music business.

As for McCabe himself, Beatty plays him with the same laconic, stammering mannerisms he applies to all his roles, (and which he seems either blessed or cursed with in real life), and which actually makes him a perfect Altman hero, (or anti-hero, if you prefer). Mrs Miller, on the other hand, seems coolly distracted from what's going on around her. Julie Christie plays up her Englishness adding another element to the alienation of her character, a stranger in a strange land indeed, while in the foreground the songs of Leonard Cohen seem to hover like warm blankets, cosily familiar and comforting even at their bleakest. They could have been written for the film.

Altman's Turn in the Wild West

[oOoBarracuda · 6/10 · 30 December 2015]

Director Robert Altman spanned great lengths of symbolism to bring audiences a tale of an unlikely pairing in life on the frontier. The tale of "a savior for everyone" lays as a backdrop for the 1971 film. Warren Beatty and Julie Christie join forces to bring a sense of civilization to the town of Presbyterian Church, which has little civilization and no church. A heavy western dealing with themes of isolation and redeemers, McCabe and Mrs. Miller came off a touch thematically weighed down.

Upon his arrival to the town of Presbyterian Church, gambler John McCabe (Warren Beatty) quickly learns that the town of God is nearly God-less, as the church remains under construction. McCabe then designates himself to be the town's savior, the first nod to this enduring theme. He wants to bring his brand of civility to a township that, is, well, lacking. Deciding to build a brothel, McCabe is soon joined in his exploits by Mrs. Miller, a shrewd business-minded woman who seems to believe that she acts as a savior to the girls she "employs". Soon, as their mutual business thrives, so do budding feelings between the entrepreneurs. Competing moral compasses keep McCabe and Mrs. Miller apart, as each walk among the desolate winter scene McCabe traverses reminds the viewer that the only certainty in life is solitude; we enter, and leave this world, alone. Soon, a battle erupts as the business is challenged by corporate interests who have invaded the town. The choice McCabe makes was perhaps the only one he could live with, but it holds desperate consequences for everyone else involved. The forever in solitude, John McCabe was played well by Warren Beatty who was able to execute the competing dualities of McCabe's character, who both wanted to be alone, but also wanted to be loved and needed. Julie Christie plays Mrs. Miller well also as the gruff, shrewd business woman, yet angel to the girls she employed. Personally, I get pulled into a movie's lighting. If the lighting is not right for the mood, the story is not being told properly. The lighting in McCabe and Mrs. Miller was overly dark, which fit the mood well, but was not contrasted enough with brightening during the lighter parts of the film. Another compelling aspect of the film was the cinematography. Shots of trees and mountains slated against the unfruitful harsh winter that was being endured were a true treat to the viewer. The shots were also pivotal to illustrate the deeper themes of the film. There's not much that photographs lonelier than a bare tree in the middle of winter. The audience learns that McCabe is like this tree, alone, yet seeking the cover of its familiarity. The audience eventually starts rooting for McCabe, in hopes that someday find his leaves.

All-in-all, I applaud Robert Altman for providing audiences with such a deep film, and bringing such allegory and theme to the western genre. That being said, it was a little symbolism heavy. The Jesus-like moment in this film was not executed as well as the one in say, Raging Bull (1980), nor was it necessary to prove that theme to the audience. If only the director had more faith in his audience to reach the conclusions he was intending, rather than weighing down the film with so much symbolism, McCabe and Mrs. Miller could have risen to "Classic" status outside of the western genre. We will never know what could have happen, and even though I found the thematic elements over the top, I would recommend this film to any fans of great westerns, or Warren Beatty.

Pure Perfection ...

[ElMaruecan82 · 10/10 · 3 January 2011]

Writing this review is a real dilemma because the most sincere words I would use to describe this masterpiece would make me feel like paraphrasing Roger Ebert, but for one thing, he was absolutely right, this movie is perfect. It's an incredible achievement, it reaches a level of greatness so high, you feel like your eyes will never witness such cinematic perfection, such documentary-like authenticity, such beauty in ugliness. This film captures the end of the Old Western Myth through the fate of one of the most fascinating movie characters: John McCabe, brilliantly portrayed by Warren Beatty.

John McCabe embodies the Old West myth through his complex but charismatic personality. Here is a good-hearted man, a man who claims to be a businessman, but who seems to carry something deeply hidden in his conscience, in his soul. Whether it's a strength or a weakness, we can't tell in the beginning of the film. Some said he killed a guy? Is is true? McCabe doesn't care. He's here for business and means it. He builds a saloon, and supplies the distraction to the future inhabitants of the modest Presbyterian Church, a little but promising town, in the middle of nowhere. McCabe is respected because he's got charisma, humor, and the money to make him the richest, therefore the most powerful man in town. He's a strong character, a true leader with a beard like the mane of a lion whom he also seems to have the heart. Until the second protagonist of the film, Mrs. Miller, comes.

Mrs. Miller, a peculiar little woman who makes the lion look like a lamb. She talks straight-forwardly, she's a whore and proposes to provide her experience in the whore business, in other words, a partnership. The way she handles the negotiation is so convincing even McCabe can't resist. But not because he's a visionary but because he liked her at first sight, even though he has too much pride to admit it. And this movie becomes one of the greatest and most poignant romances ever portrayed.

McCabe isn't meant to be a leader, though he tries to act like one, but this is no Ford or Hawks's film. McCabe is too fragile, too human. Mrs. Miller is the tougher one and she realizes it soon. They're different, but they're complementary. And she wants to protect him, because she, too, developed a fondness for him (it wouldn't have been a romance otherwise) The tragedy of their romance is that if Mrs. Miller had McCabe's personality and vice versa, things would have probably turned differently, for good. But it didn't. McCabe goofing around lead him to commit a fatal mistake. When two agents from a major corporation offer to buy him out, he doesn't get the idea and he bargains. McCabe is just too tragically dumb to figure out that his refusal to "sign the contract" signed his own death warrant. How ironic, this man who doesn't want to share his money, his land, still accepts to share the woman he loves. There's no place for good-hearted men, it's the time of industry, business and majors and McCabe already belongs to another era.

One particular scene illustrates this idea, and it's almost painful to remember it. It's the famous bridge scene, a reminiscent of Elisha Cook Jr.'s character death in "Shane". The victim is a gentle funny looking kid who spent good time with the whores and happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong moment. Never had a death shocked me and saddened me so much. The guy was good-hearted, like McCabe, and he was killed because as soon as he crossed the bridge facing that little punk (one of the few characters I couldn't wait to see die), he couldn't go back, even by acting friendly. Just like McCabe sealed his fate and wasn't even given the choice to reconsider the offer. Miller knew he was doomed, Miller, also too proud to admit her love, making her partner a customer even in love. Money was just her shell, but look at her in the bed scene when she's smiling to him, the light shining from her eyes is nothing but love, and this is the most beautiful smile ever captured in film.

McCabe's demise is another tribute to the greatness of the film. The guy is chased by the colossal villainous Butler and his two side-kicks including the previously mentioned punk. What does McCabe do? He chickens out, and tries to escape, at least this is his first reaction. Another element that makes us feel so much sympathy for McCabe, forget Eastwood's speech in "Unforgiven" : 'Hell of a thing killing a man'. It doesn't need words in Altman's masterpiece, just show McCabe running from death and we get the idea. This climactic sequence is so thrilling we feel like being chased with McCabe. And when he kills the villains one by one, this concludes his fascinating story arc by denying Butler's statement "McCabe never killed a guy before". After all, the guy might be human, fragile, dead, but he's the Old West.

As McCabe is slowly buried in snow, Mrs. Miller is in an opium den, looking at the light with melancholy, feeling like a precious part of herself is progressively fading to death ... melancholy, snow, death, we're absorbed in an ocean of emotions we wouldn't expect from a western, a feeling of profound sadness, why such awful things happen to good people, why? because no matter why, when something comes to an end, it must end. It's called tragedy, it's tragically sad ... this is the saddest movie I've seen, the end of an era, of a myth, of a genre. It doesn't preach sadness, it just illustrates the doom of living in a world where a good heart has nowhere to live, and two good hearts nowhere to live together.

Good if somewhat overrated "anti-western"

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 1 November 2013]

A slight rant in place of a typical review, so bear with me. I'm somewhat amused by those that seem to think this version of the Old West is somehow the most real. They believe that the west was a place that was dark, rainy, and muddy all the time. One can't deny the influence Altman's film has had on westerns since. So many have shot their westerns to mimic this supposed reality. The comparisons typically go "old westerns didn't have it right but Altman does. His is the most authentic picture of life in the Old West." Really? So life in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, California, etc. matched that of rainy Vancouver? This is ridiculous.

Here's what's real: this movie takes place in the pacific northwest and is shot in Canada. To say Altman is fictionally portraying a small previously unexplored part of Old West history is fine. But to take it a step further and say this is representative of the Old West as a whole or even a majority is blatantly false. Furthermore, to use this as a tool to degrade older western movies, which actually did take place and were filmed in proper western US locations, is dishonest. Sorry but this sort of thing has always bugged me. I'm not a big fan of the visual of the Canadian westerns even though I have enjoyed quite a few of them as films. It's an artistic choice for these filmmakers to choose to shoot there because the weather is depressing and the stories usually follow suit. It's also a business choice because it has been so much cheaper to film there for decades. But let's not say it's because of historical accuracy when it isn't.

Anyway, as to this film's merits. I won't bother to cover ground others have covered. It's an enjoyable movie, artistically speaking, though not much fun and you're left at the end with a "what was the point" type of feeling. It's definitely not a strong narrative. The story is paper thin. If you're coming to this hoping to see some of what you expect from the two stars, you'll probably be disappointed. Warren Beatty is not his usual sexy, funny, charming self. Hidden away behind a beard and spending about half the movie mumbling like Popeye, none of the personality Beatty exhibited in most of his more famous films comes through. Julie Christie is a great beauty but here she's deliberately "uglied up" so as to add to the film's perceived authenticity.

It's a revisionist western and a good one. I would just like some of the pretentiousness to be checked at the door. Not for all tastes.

A tale of the American dream; with hookers

[Derek237 · 10/10 · 30 September 2005]

Behind every great man is a great woman. McCabe is the man, Mrs. Miller is the woman, and together they form a pretty successful team. Both are in search of the American dream: freedom, fortune, security. Mrs. Miller, a prostitute, and the real brains behind the operation helps make this possible for the couple. She doesn't want to be nothing but a whore for the rest of her life. They partner up and establish the best lil' whorehouse in town. This is quite the unconventional western, and it is executed so perfectly as only the great Robert Altman could do.

I loved the whole process of the film. I liked the characters and wanted to see them succeed. When things go bad, as they often do, some very tense sequences ensue. Men are hired to kill McCabe for not negotiating with the right people. There is one part where he first meets the man hired to kill him that is so nerve-wrecking, but so amusing at the same time. I mean, it's pretty clear early on that McCabe is a bit of a buffoon, but I think this is the crucial point in the film when we know we really care about his fate.

Wonderfully acted by Warren Beatty and Julie Christie in the lead roles(as well as the supporting cast), being in the hands of Robert Altman, and with some great music by Leonard Cohen, McCabe & Mrs. Miller proves itself as a great, great movie. It's a comedy, a tragedy, a classic, a true masterpiece.

My rating: 10/10

Western Hustle

[aciessi · 6/10 · 11 April 2016]

Robert Altman, certainly one of the great directors of all time. I heard a lot about this prior to watching it through cinephile sites and insights from other famous directors about it, and I thought for sure that I would love it. I don't really know what to say, honestly. It's one of the slowest westerns ever made. Not too much happens, and most of the dialogue is completely garbled and unintelligible due to what I think was a terrible job in the sound department, but upon research, I think that it might have been on purpose. Cinematography is quite beautiful for it's time, of course thanks to the great Vilmos Zsigmond. I appreciate what it did for the western genre, by making McCabe all talk and no action. The final shootout proves to us that he is sort of a coward. In the end, he's just a hustler, looking for love and a place to belong, but realizing nearly all of it comes at a price. After reading Roger Ebert's review of the film, I realized that the story is more or less about loneliness. McCabe and Mrs. Miller are essentially empty people, hiding under fake identities of grandeur. But they've been playing the game for so long, that even when they try to act like a couple, it fails miserably. The end of the film is extremely well done, with the close up of McCabe freezing to death in the snow, as the camera blurs out, and cutting back to Mrs. Miller getting high in the opium den. Poignant, beautiful, and perhaps indicative of the entire film itself. I don't know if I will ever watch the film again, it's quite tough to sit through, but as a fan of Altman, this is a film worth telling people that you've watched.

Unique, perfect and thoroughly enjoyable.

[Tyche · 10/10 · 19 January 2000]

I was led to this movie in 1972 via the Academy nomination of Julie Christie for her remarkable performance and the small trailer used to highlight her. This was enough to get my attention.

Since then I have recommended it to any movie lover- whether a "student of film" or not. I am constantly surprised at the numbers of people who haven't seen this masterpiece. I've lived with it's haunting scenes for a quarter of a century and, as with anything of depth, constantly find new charms in my old love.

From the evocative lyrics of the opening score to it's sudden chilling and deadly encounters, this movie lives in your mind long after the final blizzard cloaks the frame.

If one is a contrarian I would guess the only thing to do after seeing this for perhaps the fiftieth time is to begin looking for that moment where someone, anyone has put a foot wrong in this production. From gaffers to grips, actors to designers, continuity to props it is so pure as to be a documentary in it's granular clarity- there may be a wrong note in there somewhere but until then do yourself a favor and give yourself up to as rich a cinematic experience as you are ever likely to find.

There are few movies I love- I love this movie.

A Sombre Beauty

[JamesHitchcock · 7/10 · 12 December 2007]

This film is an example of what has been called the "revisionist Western". The traditional Western had often presented an idealised, highly moralistic, picture of the Old West as a place where the brave, honourable men in the white hats took on the villainous criminals in the black hats and almost invariably came out on top. The revisionists tried to undermine this picture by presenting us with a world where good did not always triumph over evil- a world, indeed, where the lines between good and evil were often blurred. The heyday of the traditional Western was in the forties and fifties, significantly the era of World War II and the early days of the Cold War. There were, of course, Westerns from these decades where moral boundaries were by no means clear-cut, but they tended to be a minority; when film-makers of the period wanted to deal in moral ambiguity they often turned to other genres, such as film noir. By the late sixties and early seventies, however, the revisionists were in the ascendant, possibly because events such as the Vietnam War had caused many Americans to question some of their most cherished beliefs about their country.

"McCabe and Mrs Miller" is a film which takes its revisionism rather further than some. Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" is sometimes quoted as the quintessential revisionist Western, and it certainly shows us the West as a harsh, pitiless place. Yet although Peckinpah shows us both his criminal protagonists and their enemies as brutal and ruthless, he also mythologises the brutality and ruthlessness of the "Bunch", particularly in the final battle scene in which they achieve a sort of epic grandeur. Tom Gries's "Will Penny" demythologises the West by showing us the cowboy not as hero but as average working man, but keeps the moral distinction between the sympathetic Penny and his villainous adversaries.

Robert Altman's film is different to either. It is set in the early twentieth century in a small logging town in the Pacific North-West- a late date and an unusual location for a Western. The town goes by the name of Presbyterian Church, but the local residents, mostly male, have things other than religion on their minds. John McCabe is an entrepreneur who arrives in town with a scheme to make his fortune by setting up a tavern-cum-brothel. The sex industry is not a field of business in which he has any experience, but he goes into partnership with Constance Miller, an English hooker turned madam, and at first their enterprise proves a great success. Their success, however, proves to be their undoing. A powerful corporation wants to take over the town and makes McCabe an offer to buy out his holdings. He thinks the price is too low and refuses, not realising that the people with whom he is dealing will resort to anything, including violence, to get what they want and that this is the proverbial "offer he cannot refuse".

The plot is a relatively simple one, much more so than some of Altman's other films, such as "Short Cuts" with its collection of interlocking stories or "Gosford Park" with its multiple sub-plots. I felt, in fact, that the film was too long and in parts too slow-moving and that the simple story could have been better told in a more compact form. When I first saw it I occasionally found it difficult to follow, largely because of the director's frequent use of overlapping conversations, although I found it more comprehensible on a second viewing.

There are, however, compensations. The film is set in autumn and winter; the indoor scenes are dark, lit only by oil lamps and log fires, and the outdoor ones are dull, with overcast skies, rain and snow. (The final scenes take place in a snowstorm). The dominant tones are greys and browns, but from this limited palette Altman is able to achieve a sombre beauty. Indeed, this is visually one of the most beautiful films ever made, one of those films where almost every shot is composed like a painting. Leonard Cohen's haunting songs fit the mood of the film perfectly.

There is no epic grandeur about this film, the sordid tale of a brothel-keeper who gets himself shot because of his greed and stupidity. His death goes unnoticed by his fellow townsmen, who are more worried about the fact that the local church has caught fire. This is no story out of which legends are made, like the Gunfight at the OK Corral or Custer's Last Stand. It is the sort of story which might merit a few brief paragraphs on the crime page of a local newspaper. By 1971 the Western had, by and large, ceased to celebrate the triumph of Good over Evil. In Altman's vision it ceased to celebrate anything of any note. This is the only Western the director made, and he significantly referred to it as an "anti-Western". Yet he managed to produce from this sordid and mundane subject-matter a strange, hauntingly beautiful film. 7/10

Windex, please.

[FilmSnobby · 3/10 · 15 May 2005]

*McCabe and Mrs. Miller* takes place in the turn-of-the-century Pacific Northwest. Into a soggy, muddy mining camp John McCabe (a hirsute Warren Beatty) comes barging, full of cigar smoke and big ideas about building a proper saloon/whorehouse for the town, replete with a trio of the sorriest whores in movie history. He also comes with an unearned reputation as a gunslinger: too shameful about this to blatantly advertise it, but not exactly afraid to use it in order to assert alpha-male credentials amongst the locals. And thus he wrangles the boys into building his saloon at the rate of 15 cents an hour.

It looks to be a rather sorry operation until Mrs. Miller (Julie Christie) shows up on a startling contraption that's half-railroad car, half-automobile (where did Altman find that thing?). Mrs. Miller immediately takes on McCabe as a business partner, with the aim of classing up the new joint with proper whores and an insistence that all visitors take a bath before entering. Noting that McCabe doesn't know how to add, she also insists on handling the accounts. It's not clear what McCabe's function will be.

The plot thickens when a pair of oily representatives from the mining company show up in town and offer McCabe to buy him out for five grand. McCabe tells them to buzz off -- he's holding out for fifteen thousand. The company finds negotiation distasteful, so they hire a trio of assassins to simply kill McCabe . . . though how they think they can get away with murdering a man in broad daylight in the center of town is as unclear as McCabe's function in the whorehouse partnership. (Excusing this whopping plot hole on the grounds that the locals would be too cowed to talk doesn't cut the mustard when one considers that any reward-money offered by the local Marshal would be pretty tempting.)

*McCabe and Mrs. Miller*, purportedly "classic Seventies cinema", should be a lot better than it is. The movie tells a pretty good story; the main characters have the potential to be interesting. There are some striking scenes, especially one involving what looks to be a 14-year-old stone-cold killer. But it's really, really hard to enjoy a movie when you can hardly hear what anyone is saying and when you can hardly see what anyone is doing. Once again, this director hijacks his own movie with sheer barnyard laziness and sloppiness. According to the trivia-sheet here on IMDb, the movie's editor griped to Altman that the sound was muddy; Altman disagreed; and when everyone said the sound was muddy after the movie's release, Altman blamed the editor. (Nice.) Along with the bad sound, the movie has an atrocious look. Only Robert Altman can hire a world-class DP like Vilmos Zsigmond and make a movie that looks as if they sprayed the camera lenses with dirty dishwater. Reviewers here who praise the "dark brown glow" of this picture have GOT to be kidding me. The interiors are shot through what appears to be a dark scum. The exterior photography is even worse: it's as if Altman placed 500 fog machines behind the copious trees. During the climactic stretch, when Beatty is dodging the assassins while the local church is on fire, Altman insists on pretty much wholly obscuring the view with an animated snow-fall that reminds one of a Rankin-Bass Christmas special.

Look -- I can't watch a movie under these conditions. Get back to me when you learn how to place boom mikes, when you remove all that annoying "Altman-esque" overlapping dialog, and when you wipe the lenses with some Windex, or something. 3 stars out of 10.

Cold And Poetic

[Lechuguilla · 13 October 2006]

As a Western this film is fascinating for what it does not contain. There are no sweeping vistas of the Great Plains, no Indians, no cacti, no cowboy hats. There is no sheriff, no broiling sun, and no corny music. And unlike most Westerns, which are plot driven, "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" is less about plot than about the tone or mood of the frontier setting.

The film takes place in the Pacific Northwest. The weather is cold, cloudy, and inclement. You can hear the wind howling through tall evergreens. And Leonard Cohen's soft, poetic music accentuates the appropriately dreary visuals. In bucking cinematic tradition, therefore, this film deserves respect, because it is at least unusual, and perhaps even closer in some ways to the ambiance of life on the American frontier than our stereotyped notions, as depicted in typical John Wayne movies.

Not that the plot is unimportant. Warren Beatty plays John McCabe, a two-bit gambler who imports several prostitutes to a tiny town, in hopes of making money. Julie Christie plays Mrs. Miller, a prostitute with a head for business. She hears about McCabe's scheme, and approaches McCabe with an offer he can't refuse. Soon, the two are in business together, but complications ensue when word gets around that McCabe may be a gunslinger who has killed someone important. Mrs. Miller is clearly a symbol of the women's liberation movement, and the film's ending is interesting, in that context.

"McCabe & Mrs. Miller" is a vintage Altman film, in that you can hear background chatter, in addition to the words of the main character. It's Altman's trademark of overlapping dialogue. The film's acting is fine. Both Beatty and Christie perform credibly in their roles.

The visuals have a turn-of-the-century look, with a soft, brownish hue. Costumes and production design are elaborate, and appear to be authentic. The film is very dark, so dark in some scenes that I could barely make out the outline of human figures. In those scenes, I think they went overboard with the ultra dim lighting.

Strictly atypical for the Western genre, "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" provides a pleasant change from cinematic stereotypes, and conveys a different perspective on life in the Old West. It's a quality production, one that has Robert Altman's directorial stamp all over it. In that sense, it's more like a cinematic painting than a story. And the painting communicates to the viewer that life on the American frontier was, at least in some places, cold and dreary, and had a quietly poetic quality to it.

Harsh realities...

[poe426 · 10/10 · 12 August 2002]

McCABE & MRS. MILLER deals with several of the harsher realities of life in The Old West, and does so unflinchingly, without undue sentimentality (despite the haunting music of Leonard Cohen). Down and dirty filmmaking. Had there been documentary filmmakers roaming The Old West, they might well have shot something not unlike what Altman has wrought here. Unconventional in the extreme, McCABE & MRS. MILLER is the kind of down-to-earth western we need more of. The glamour of hard times washes right off and all that's left is a brutal, harsh reality. Superior filmmaking.

Near masterpiece...forerunner of Deadwood series!!!

[elo-equipamentos · 9/10 · 26 July 2019]

Robert Altman never get the respect from the producers, due him was so rebel, in this period of time since "M.A.S.H." until "Thieves Like Us", was a true fertile phase, after that he never got a succeeded career, therefore McCabe & Mrs. Miller gave to Bob an high acknowledgement from the critics, This picture wasn't a usual western, is quite different, no heroes, no gunfights, no romance, it's display to us how was the western on those hard times, a little town on northwest of US's territory, living for early mining and around countless suppliers selling goodies, tools, liquors, Chinese cheap labors and the main and a essential, many prostitutes to relief those tough and lonely workers, McCabe and Mrs. Miller were partner on this profitable business, somehow appears someone to buy it by any means, fabulous near masterpiece, Warren Beatty and Julie Christie were incredible, this picture was the forerunner of successful "Deadwood" series, both have the same cold environment and approaching , outstanding production that became a cult movie, despite overlooked on release time!!

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 9

Wild West as it probably was

[Bored_Dragon · 7/10 · 27 August 2020]

"Sometimes, when I take a look at you, I just keep looking and looking. I wanna feel your little body up against me so bad, I think I'm gonna bust... You're freezing my soul, that's what you're doing."

The story of a gambler and a prostitute who, in a remote settlement somewhere in the Wild West, manage an elite brothel in partnership, until capitalists far above their level interfere. Altman's revisionist western (or anti-western) is more of a life drama and tragic romance set in the Wild West than a western in the classical sense. The fight of heroic cowboys against evil and primitive Indians is replaced by the fight of anti-heroes, small entrepreneurs against corporate capital, and instead of good and bad guys, we have real convincing people with whom we can more easily identify. And the environment itself ceases to be a fairy-tale town on the prairie, instead of which Altman portrays the harsh living conditions of the American Northwest at the time. Everything in this film leaves a realistic impression, from the environment, the characters, and their development, the story itself, to the pace at which it takes place. And the strong emotion that permeates it is further enhanced by the beautiful songs of Leonard Cohen. If you are looking for magical landscapes, constant action and gunfights, heroes and their heroines, and the inevitable happy ending, this film is not for you. But if you like a solid drama that shows life as it really is and that does not hide the flaws of individuals and society under the carpet, you will enjoy it.

7,5/10

Anti-John Wayne

[RARubin · 8/10 · 6 March 2006]

This is one of those groundbreaking films that that put the whammy on a genre; in this case, the Western can never come back. Oaters traditionally are the realm of strong male characters righting wrong, loving their horses, and ignoring the school marm. Robert Altman, a political and cultural man of the 1960's Left simply says "horse feathers." The hero is a corrupt bawdyhouse owner. The school marm makes her living in a crude manner and normal everyday middle-class types don't really exist in the hardscrabble world of capitalism.

The town in Vancouver, Canada sits in a mountains and wilderness. The film company built the town. That's real snow there folks and blizzards as our anti-hero Beatty shoots it out with the company men while his best "girl" Julie Christy hides out in an opium den, her brown eyes realistically glassy. John Wayne's, The Searchers was one of the best films ever made. McCabe & Mrs. Miller tries to undo all that.

Fascinating look at the underbelly of frontier life and a forerunner of the HBO series Deadwood, the West may not be a better place for it.

** 1/2 out of ****

[kyle_c · 6/10 · 2 September 2002]

The story of entrepreneur John McCabe (Warren Beatty), who sets up a whorehouse in a western town with the help of Constance Miller (Julie Christie) is interesting but ultimately too difficult to be worthwhile. A beautifully constructed movie, it creates tons of atmosphere, with the music, cinematography, and sets all perfectly setting the tone. The fault of the movie lies in an unfocused plot that really never gets the movie anywhere. I understand that the movie isn't about plot, but rather tone and atmosphere. However, it is necessary that a movie maintains some form of interest throughout its course, and for me, this movie failed to do so. It was beautifully to take in for the first fifteen or twenty minutes while I experienced the atmospheric look at the west, but when the plot began to go nowhere I found that the atmosphere was really all the movie had going for it. So, while I admire its craftsmanship and appreciate Altman's directorial talents, it provided little entertainment and offered little satisfaction when all was said and done.

dazzling in orange hues

[TheTwistedLiver · 10/10 · 12 August 2003]

Spoilers

Their is so much to say about this film, that it is hard to begin in one place. This could possibly be the best film ever made. Upon my first time seeing this masterpiece, I half paid attention, but got enough out of it to realize that it demanded a second viewing. By the time I had realized I wanted to see this film again, I came to the conclusion that I had to own it. I gave it a serious look once I bought it on DVD, and am continuously drawn into its world no matter how

many times I watch it, it only gets better. Powerful is one of the many words which comes to mind, the film starts out beautifully, and subtly becomes deeper as it progresses and the layers are piled on. The stratas are wove together like a sublime tapestry or an orchestral

movement by Mozart. It begins simply with one note, and becomes a hauntingly rich harmony. The best scenes, the ones which stuck with me for days and months after, are the opening sequence with Mccabe riding in on the horse, with the

absolutely perfectly chosen Leonard Cohen soundtrack (Altman tells of listening to Leonard Cohen so much before filming Mccabe and Mrs. Miller, that he

subconsciously thinks set the tone of the film to a Leonard Cohen soundtrack, which he then added after the film was shot) The scene where Julie Christie is in bed after smoking opium and hiding under the covers like a playful child

while Mccabe says "you're a funny little woman", and the most powerful scene in the film, the innocent cowboy being gunned down on the bridge by the kid who

is trying to be a big man in front of his gang. Of course I left out all the brilliant camera work which fits perfectly, never a gratuitous pan or close up, and the final scene of Julie Christie smoking opium while on the bed. In nearly every scene a fire is lit, whether it is a lamp, fire from a fire place, or the church burning in the final scene, fire permeates this film. The warm orange glow of the fireplace in conjunction with Mccabe's giant orange coat, the orange hued leaves lightly pelted with rain, and the warming effect Julie Christie casts from the effects of the opium weave together synergistically, serving as a stark contrast to the wind and snow in the barren newly constructed frontier town. The genius of Altman, lies in shocking the audience, he is a master magician and master of surprise. It is brilliant that he made a western in the middle of winter, it is fantastic that he made the hero an anti-hero, it is magical the entire film came together seamlessly. I am a better person for having seen this film.

At one time avant-garde

[jimprideaux2 · 6/10 · 13 March 2017]

With the demise of the Hays code in the late 60s many movies took an anti-establishment tack. Altman called this movie not a western but an anti-western. But there is nothing here Deadwood doesn't do in spades. If the movie were to be released today it would labeled a typical western.

The overall plots not bad. Small mining camp grows and shows enough potential profitability that a large mining interest wants to buy out everyone cheap. Weak hands fold. But the strong, stubborn and stupid decide to stay and fight. The two buyers who were sent in by the company do not have the patience to stay in town but are anxious to get back to the comforts of home. They go to plan B, bring in the hired killers. Realistic enough but the implication of a Plan B is that either McCabe's signature or his brains are on the sales contract. But Butler, the chief killer, says he's not there to make a deal (BTW, Hugh Millias plays the intimidating Butler to perfection and steals every scene he is in). There is no explanation how the company gets McCabe's holdings by killing him.

Of course that's not what the movie is about. No western is about proper filings at the county clerk's office. This western, like many westerns, is about armed confrontation, the shoot out! The trio of bad guys are about as good as you'll find in any western. Butler, the swaggering leader, the silent "half-breed" who could kill with a stare and the crazy "kid" who goes off at the slightest provocation.

On the other side McCabe is kinda an odd bird. He is savvy enough to earn his living as a gambler and enterprising enough to build as saloon and whorehouse. Otherwise Beatty plays the role like the village idiot. There are doubts as to whether McCabe can handle a gun much less has killed a man. No Al Swearengen here.

The final shoot out is not bad. It's suspenseful enough with an ending similar to that in Hamlet.

Otherwise the mood and setting were great. I pretty much was drawn in to the authenticity of a cold dank muddy mining camp far up the mountain from anything civilized. I put on my sweater just to take the chill off.

Slow burner

[BigJimNoFool · 9/10 · 11 May 2020]

It took me a couple of days of thinking about this film to come to the conclusion that having watched it for the first time i think i underrated it. Yes it is dark and dank and dingy and in places incoherent but that i came to realise was Altmans intention and his way of directing.

The DP did an extraordinary job and i felt as cold and muddy and trapped as the inhabitants of this tiny godforsaken township. The performances are all very good but especially the two main leads.

That scene on the rope bridge was sickening and heartbreaking it still makes me mad to think of it now days later and that's powerful film making.

I love Leonard Cohen so right from the opening i was always going to love the songs but they fit so perfectly for this film i wondered if he hadnt actually wrote them especially. (I know he didnt)

So yeah at first it was an assault on the senses in many ways and so unlike anything i have ever seen before i think i came to a hasty conclusion toward the negative and having thought more and more about this film i now think it is a near masterpiece and one of my favorites of the New Hollywood era.

Enjoyable Western with atmospheric mood pieces , sparkling interpretations and gorgeous photography

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 18 February 2015]

A braggart and wheeler-dealer called Mr Cabe (Warren Beatty) arrives a in a remote Old West mining town , and he opens a bordello . His ambitious enterprise thrives until a large corporation arrives on the scene . There then appears an ex-whore named Mrs Miller (Julie Christie) who offers to use her experience to help McCabe run his business, while sharing in the profits . Both of whom become business partners . Soon after , the mining deposits in the boom small-town attract the attention of a major enterprise , which wishes to buy out McCabe along with the rest . He refuses and then problems emerge .

This stunning Western contains drama , thrills , a love story , wintry realistic vision , and shootouts at its ending . Life in the turn-of-the-century Northwest is given an awesome treatment in filmmaker Altman's visually splendid Western drama and including some brief touches of comedy . The biggest complaint against this film , as it seems to me , is that results a little bit boring , overlong and slow-moving . Being based on Edmund Naughton's novel titled ¨McCabe¨ and adapted by Brian McKay and the same Robert Altman . We meet a fantastic cast of roles, played by many of the best actors around giving marvelous acting . As top-notch acting by Warren Beatty as an ambitious small-timer businessman as well as two-bit gambler . However , Robert Altman's initial preference for the role of McCabe was Elliott Gould, whom the studio producing the film refused to accept . Nice performance from Julie Christie as as a prostitute with heart that beats to the jingle of gold . First-class support cast such as Rene Auberjonois , William Devane , John Schuck , Corey Fischer , Bert Remsen , Keith Carradine's film debut , Michael Murphy and Shelley Duvall , Altman's usual , in fact , this is second of seven films that actress Shelley Duvall made with director Robert Altman . Many of the people playing small parts, bit roles, and extras were allowed to create their own characters for the movie . Sensitive score plenty of wonderful as well as sad songs by Leonard Cohen . During post-production on this film, 'Robert Altman' was having a difficult time finding a proper musical score, until he attended a party where the album "Songs of Leonard Cohen" was playing and noticed that several songs from the album seemed to fit in with the overall mood and themes of the movie . Cohen, who had been a fan of Altman's previous film, Brewster McCloud (1970), allowed him to use three songs from the album - "The Stranger Song", "Sisters of Mercy" and "Winter Lady" . Colorful and evocative cinematography in Panavisión by classic cameraman Vilmos Zsigmond , giving a rich texture on the Western atmosphere .

The motion picture was well directed by Robert Altman who offers an adequate image of Western period , as he deglamorizes ordinary mood with his realist sights . At the beginning Altman realized Shorts and he then went to Hollywood to direct Alfred Hitchcock's TV show . From here, he went on to direct a large number of television shows, until he was offered the script for ¨M.A.S.H.¨ (1970) in 1969 . This wasn't his first movie , but it was his first success . He was hardly the producer's first choice - more than fifteen other directors had already turned it down . Altman filmed another Western titled ¨Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson¨ starred by Paul Newman . After that, he had his share of hits and misses, but ¨The prayer¨ (1992) and, more recently, ¨Gosford Park¨ (2001) were particularly well . And this ¨Mr Cabe and Mrs Miller¨ that ranked #8 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Western" in June 2008.

Not much to enjoy here

[Stay_away_from_the_Metropol · 4/10 · 16 October 2020]

Really just an epic snore fest to be honest. The only strengths are the cinematography and Beatty's performance - he does as best a job would seemingly be possible bringing some stimulating elements to this character in an otherwise thoroughly dull script, filled to the brim with impressively uninteresting characters and lackluster sequences.

Leonard Cohen's music is more entertaining than the majority of the movie. It is rare for me to feel this way, especially since folk rock is absolutely not my thing, and Cohen has never meant anything to me, but I think the music would fare better on it's own rather than to these images. Even Julie Christie is just kind of one-dimensional and mostly underutilized here. The ending was the only mildly amusing segment but it was not worth the long slow trudge in any regard - it didn't even feel like there was any building tension whatsoever. It's also funny how Altman's audio/dialogue techniques are regarded and celebrated so frequently because the audio may very well by the biggest downfall of this film, just as it was with California Split - Altman's biggest dud. The overlapping dialogue and the tinny, scrappy, hardly distinguishable audio makes for a grating experience.

I have now seen a solid 8 or so Altman movies but it is clear to me just how hit-or-miss the guy is for me. When he hits, he really hits, and when he misses, he REALLY misses. This is probably my 2nd least favorite Altman movie, with only California Split surpassing it.

3 Women > The Long Goodbye > Images > The Player > Short Cuts > Gosford Park > Nashville > McCabe & Mrs. Miller > California Split